Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood

British peer, Tory politician, planter and art collector

Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood DL (25 December 1767 – 24 November 1841), known as Viscount Lascelles from 1814 to 1820, was a British peer, Tory politician, planter and art collector.

Early life and politics

Harewood was the second son of Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood, and Anne Chaloner. He was elected to the House of Commons for Yorkshire in 1796, a seat he held until 1806, when he chose not to force a very expensive contested election. He tried and failed to regain it in the 1807 Yorkshire election. Then held it again from 1812 to 1818, and also represented Westbury from 1807 to 1812 and Northallerton from 1818 to 1820. The latter year he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. Between 1819 and 1841 he also served as Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at University College London, Harewood was awarded remuneration as a former slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 via the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.8 billion in 2025) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore, which was subsequently paid off by British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Harewood was associated with six different claims; he enslaved roughly 1,277 people in Barbados and Jamaica and received a payment of £26,307 at the time (worth £3.15 million in 2025).

Marriage and issue

Lord Harewood married Henrietta Sebright (d. 15 February 1840), daughter of Sir John Sebright, 6th Baronet, on 3 September 1794. They had eleven children:

Edward Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles (18 Jul 1796 – 7 Dec 1839), married (1) Ann Elizabeth Rosser, (2) Philippine Munster and died without issue.
Henry Lascelles, 3rd Earl of Harewood (11 Jun 1797 – 22 Feb 1857)
William Saunders Sebright Lascelles (29 Oct 1798 – 2 Jul 1851)
Edwin Lascelles (1799 – 25 Apr 1865), died unmarried.
Francis Lascelles (12 Feb 1801 – 2 Feb 1814)
Lady Harriet Lascelles (19 Jun 1802 – 1 Jan 1889), married George Holroyd, 2nd Earl of Sheffield, and had issue.
Frederick Lascelles (1803 – 13 Oct 1823)
Lady Frances Anne Lascelles ( 2 Jun 1804 – 7 Dec 1855), married John Thomas Hope, son of General Sir Alexander Hope and had issue.
Arthur Lascelles (23 Jan 1807 – 19 Jul 1880), married Caroline Frances Brooke, daughter of Richard Brooke, 6th Baronet and had issue.
Lady Emma Lascelles (16 Mar 1809 – 8 Feb 1865), married Edward Portman, 1st Viscount Portman and had issue.
Lady Louisa Lascelles (10 Sep 1812 – 10 Mar 1886), married Lord George Henry Cavendish, younger brother of William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, and had issue.

His wife is mentioned in Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen, in a letter from Mary Crawford to Fanny Price while Fanny is staying with her mother and father in Portsmouth: "I was there, two years ago, when Lady Lascelles had it, and I prefer it over any other house in London." (She is talking about a house in Wimpole Street.)

Notes

William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner by William Hague.
^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
"Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood". University College London. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

References

Archbold, W.A.J. "Lascelles, Henry" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 32. p. 156.
Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Harewood

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded byHenry Duncombe William Wilberforce	Member of Parliament for Yorkshire 1796–1800 With: William Wilberforce	Succeeded byParliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byParliament of Great Britain	Member of Parliament for Yorkshire 1801–1806 With: William Wilberforce	Succeeded byWilliam Wilberforce Walter Ramsden Fawkes
Preceded byEdward Lascelles Glynn Wynn	Member of Parliament for Westbury 1807–1812 With: Glynn Wynn 1807–1809 Francis Whittle 1809–1810 John de Ponthieu 1810–1812	Succeeded byBenjamin Hall Benjamin Shaw
Preceded byWilliam Wilberforce Viscount Milton	Member of Parliament for Yorkshire 1812–1818 With: Viscount Milton	Succeeded byViscount Milton James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
Preceded byRobert Pemberton Milnes Viscount Pollington	Member of Parliament for Pontefract 1812 With: Robert Pemberton Milnes	Succeeded byRobert Pemberton Milnes Viscount Pollington
Preceded byHenry Peirse John Bacon Sawrey Morritt	Member of Parliament for Northallerton 1818–1820 With: Henry Peirse	Succeeded byHenry Peirse William Lascelles
Honorary titles
Preceded byThe Earl FitzWilliam	Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire 1819–1841	Succeeded byThe Lord Wharncliffe
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded byEdward Lascelles	Earl of Harewood 1820–1841	Succeeded byHenry Lascelles

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